Children over the weight level can still play under special heavy rules provided they are not over the maximum weight limit.

The Colonial Youth Football League Press Release February 4, 2011

Lehigh Valley, PA – The dream of creating a new youth football league comprised of Colonial League schools has finally been realized. On Thursday, seven area youth football programs came together to form the Colonial Youth Football League or CYFL for short.

"It's a great start to a dream that many area schools, football coaches and parents have been hoping for a long time", says David Albertson, football director for Northwestern Youth Athletic Association (NYAA) and newly elected league president of CYFL.

A new push to test the interest in forming the first Colonial League for youth football came from the Palisades youth football program back in December. Eleven teams continuously worked to create bylaws and league rules since then. In the end, seven teams made the jump to the new CYFL while several others are waiting until the 2012 season to join. "We knew going into this new league that it would take several years to attract other Colonial League youth programs into this new league however, the most important step was taken on Thursday when seven teams signed on the dotted line", says Albertson.

The CYFL focused on player participation and safety as its cornerstone values with minimum play standards for each player and mandatory concussion protocols. "We took the best policies from each program and merged them into our new league. Our goal was to create the best and safest youth football league possible", said Albertson.

The seven teams came from Bux-Mont, Blue Mountain and Lehigh Valley youth football leagues, all whom had different rules and standards. "It was a very interesting process to merge and compromise all of the different rules that each team was used too, said Albertson, adding "this is a special moment in the history of youth football in our area, all of these teams really pushed hard to compromise on age, weights and rules to make this happen".